Hard Damage by Aria Aber

Aria Aber is the daughter of Afghan refugees to Germany. She moved to the US as an adult. These three worlds and languages inform her poetry in her debut book Hard Damage, and it’s really wonderful. Language is not static in Aber’s work—it’s malleable. It can be used to tell a story behind/within a story. There’s an entire section “Rilke and I” that evokes the voice and spirit of Rilke, meditating on the differences between German and English words. Aber confronts history and conflict directly. There is so much to be fascinated by in this book. So much to reward the reader. Buy here.

“How to Pronounce John Frusciante Correctly”

But how ironic I must be / to have entered a language / wherein I mistake / I will leave you / for / I will love you

From “The Ownership of Naming Things”

. . . God, I say, my forehead kissing the flowered rug—I am not // delicate. Look at me. I am not trying to disappear.

From “Schrecken/Terror”

. . . What does Rilke have to do with terrorism, you ask. // Didn’t Rilke live through a war? Didn’t he see Europe fall to ruins? / Didn’t he, instead, write about the soul inside a bowl of rotten fruit? // Didn’t he ignore? // Let me not turn away. Whatever is purity—let me not be pure. // No. Let everything happen to the word I worry.